queen's quality

Queen’s Quality Volume 2 by Kyousuke Motomi

Kyousuke Motomi shoujo series are entertaining and refreshing for me to read, because while romance certainly is a feature, it often takes a backseat to subversive humor and action oriented plots involving hackers or the demons that lurk inside the souls of humans. This volume of Queen’s Quality continues the exploration into the twisted soul of a teacher who was bullying students, and Fumi and Kyutaro have to combine their abilities yet again in order to root out the bugs that cause a sort of soul malaise to spread to people like an infectious disease.

Motomi’s humor is on full display in a scene where Fumi is going to pick her sacred psychic weapon and instead of summoning a spear of light or magic sword she conjures a long-handled scrub brush. Kyutaro suggests that she try for another weapon but Fumi is delighted with her weapon because it is perfectly balanced and the best possible implement for cleaning toilets. Fumi’s cartoonish enthusiasm as she waves her brush around in the air is one of the few light-hearted moments in this volume, because once the Sweepers head into the brain of Ms Hayashi, things get both scary and surreal.

Kyutaro’s role as a steady emotional support to Fumi becomes even more important as she reveals another aspect to her hidden power as they battle their most challenging bugs yet. The layers of protection that exist in Fumi’s mind that hide her memories as well as her ability to consciously manifest her role as a “Queen” make Queen’s Quality an intriguing character study. The violent psychic landscape that the couple has to navigate contrasts with the more mundane chores of cleaning and making rice porridge back in the real world. Motomi is great at portraying slightly broken characters with great nuance, and it’ll be interesting to see if Fumi and Kyutaro manage to heal each other and achieve some sort of peace by the end of the series.

Queen’s Quality Volume 1 by Kyousuke Motomi

I was very happy when I saw that Queen’s Quality was licensed shortly after the earlier series QQ Sweeper. Motomi has a quirky and slightly warped sense of humor that makes her shoujo series stand out. Queen’s Quality starts out at what felt like a faster pace than QQ Sweeper, as many of the plot points that were only dangling or hinted at in the earlier series get pushed forward dramatically in the first few chapters of this volume.

Fumi continues her life as an apprentice sweeper, learning the tricks of the paranormal trade from her friend Kyutaro and his family. While they practice cleaning everyday rooms and objects, they are also training for dealing with exorcising the demons that can get inside human hosts, causing them to act cruel. There’s a focus on personality and inner character in this series, as people who might be mentally weak or who have a tendency to be cruel end up leaving a door open for evil to get in, and their worst personality traits are magnified.

Another sweeper named Takaya Kitahara shows up to visit the Horikita family, and he provokes Fumi’s hidden Queen power as part of a test. Kyutaro is able to bring her back to herself, but seeing her power manifest is frightening. Kyutaro resolves to stay by Fumi to support her, but he’s told that he can’t ever remind her of the past that she’s forgotten, when they used to be childhood friends. Kyutaro’s response to this is to emotionally withdraw even more than usual, causing Fumi a great deal of distress as she doesn’t understand why he’s acting deliberately cold towards her. Fortunately his family has their best interests at heart, and they send the young couple on a mandatory and hilariously awkward shopping trip/date as an assignment, and their friendship is salvaged.

One thing I like about Motomi’s series is that there’s always a psychological element to be found in the stories, and they don’t rely quite as much on external situations or antagonists. While there are certainly forces at work trying to turn Fumi into an evil queen, the bad guys aren’t really as interesting as the fact that Fumi is going to have to draw on her emotional reserves and face the darkness that’s inside her, the same as any human. Fumi and Kyutaro talk at the end of the volume, and she asks if he’s afraid of her. He replies “Everyone has dark thoughts…or parts of themselves that they can’t control.” He vows that if she has to head into the darkness, he’s going too. This relationship dynamic is so interesting to see in a shoujo series, and it is why I’m so impressed with Queen’s Quality.